Hello, and welcome to another blog.

Today I’m going to be covering a topic that has been covered many times, including quite recently. Wait, wait, don’t click away yet! In keeping with the theme of giving a different perspective on the issues and topics of the day, I’m going to jump straight in there and without further ado present the topic of today’s blog:

Usernames: Put Some Thought into It!

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Alright, now that I’ve got the tedious title drop out of the way, I can move on to the actual meat of the subject that I’m sure everyone is dying to read. First of all, I should say that I’m not going to be giving tips on how to make a cool username. It’d be a bit ironic if I gave you guys one when I can’t even think one up for myself. No, I’m moreso going to highlight the dangers of not having a good username and how that may affect you in more ways than you realise…

So then, as I have every respect for your valuable time I’m going to pad this out a little more with a delicious tangerine tangent:

Once upon a time, there was some 12 year old guy and stuff happened to him. He then got a YouTube account and put little to no thought into its name (back in the days before name changes O.O). That guy’s YouTube name was tormentor687. In case this needed clarifying, yes I am referring to myself in this masterfully written autobiography.

Unfortunately I didn’t consider changing my username until it was too late. What seemed cool a few years ago now makes me visibly cringe if my name ever crops up in chat. I daresay others will have similar feelings about their own usernames. When you can’t change your name then you need to make sure to choose the one that is right for you otherwise problems will ensue down the line.

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Most prominently, a poor username can actually prevent you from being able to go to certain servers or places. Okay, sure sometimes a name can be ironic – such as how Smiling Jack is the raider merchant who would kill you as soon as look at you, but other places you just would not be able to go if you have any respect for your own integrity as a person.

Take my username for example. Would you expect to see a guy called Tormentor playing for the good faction on an RP server? Helping people on creative servers? Or actually even being on servers that value co-operation and being friends with thy neighbour?

I’m going to guess no. Based on usernames alone, I’d probably be dobbed in with the hackers, trolls and griefers. Again, why you should always choose a username that’s right for you, even if it requires a bit more thought than you may fancy. Otherwise you may end up giving people the wrong first impression of your character and you’ll then have to work to overcome the image your name presents in addition to not being able to go to certain servers without looking like an idiot. However, as much as we may not want to admit it, people create first impressions of people almost unconsciously and you have to make sure that your username doesn’t create the wrong one.

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Granted, if caught early enough you can change your name. However, after a while it becomes quite difficult due to what we know as association.

This is the reason why I have not changed my username. Okay, this and that I don’t play Minecraft enough anymore to warrant forking out £20 for a new name. A few months after buying Minecraft under the name Tormentor_687, I began to play on a server. A server that I have never moved on from and I probably never will. After a while I became known by the username Tormentor_687, I am now associated with that name and it would be quite abrupt and jolting if I were to suddenly change my name.

Admittedly I probably dug myself into a bit of a hole by then creating all of my other internet accounts under the same name or variations of such, but hey at least everyone can now learn from my mistakes?

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TL;DR

Long story short, put some thought into your username. What you may think is cool at the time you may despise in a few years. Also, keep in mind that you may be unable to go to some servers if your name is too far from the server motif.

However, this blog isn’t about how to choose a good username. It’s moreso to make clear the consequences if your username isn’t completely right for you.

So to conclude I’ll leave you with this: if you’re like me and you’re stuck with some crummy username that you would sell your mother to change but can’t due to being already associated with it, then if nothing else choose a nickname.

Sometimes the best nicknames come from the worst usernames…

Thanks for reading, as always feedback is appreciated.

- Torm